


The pretty lies, the ugly truth

by Mardale



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: I A NOT A NATIVE SPEAKER, Implied Sexual Content, Mistakes, Out of Character, because I have been watching vikings a lot lately, because guess what, ironborn are pretty much vikings, joffrey is a manipulative piece of shit, sansa is veeery confused
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-01-19
Packaged: 2019-03-06 21:31:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13420041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mardale/pseuds/Mardale
Summary: Sansa is a confused teenager, living her life at the court. Sansa/Theon is the main pairing, because I love them, and Sansa/Jeoffrey appears quite a lot in this part because I needed some drama. Possible that some characters may be very OOC, because I wasn't sure what characters I would insert into this scenario, and when I finally decided, big parts of the plot were already invented sooo.. be merciful?





	The pretty lies, the ugly truth

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from "teen idle'' by marina&the diamonds. Awesome song and awesome artist, you may want to check out even if you hate this fanfic.

The worst part is, she wanted him to find out.

She can’t remember when he came to King’s Landing, can’t recall the first time she saw him. Robb probably can. Maybe even her parents, but not her. She just knows that one day he was a bodyless being, only talked about and announced, and the other day he is already a part of the complicated puzzle game that the court is.

One day he was just a familiar stranger, and the next day suddendly he was being scolded (though with a hint of smile) by her father, clapped on the back by her brother, and greeted with joy by her other siblings (maybe except for Jon, Jon was the only one to not really care).

Theon Greyjoy attaches himself to the Starks, and starts to let his roots out, but not once does she think it is because of her (she has seen the way he smiled, has noticed his smirks, but wasn’t he like that with any girl?). And suddendly, there they are, dancing on one of the feasts, and then he leads her to the side and asks, for once without a hint of irony, if she will become his wife. 

She just stares at him, then looks away, and that’s when she notices someone staring at her. 

The prince.

Blush creeps on her face, and she is going to tell Theon to go to Seven Hells, to scream at Margaery that she is not her friend, and just run to Jeoffrey and get lost in his touch that she has craved for so long. 

But then she sees that Joffrey, the one she has been dreaming about, nods his slowly. And that Margaery, his wife is by his side now, and they both smile at her.

They encourage her to say yes, she can see the excitement in Margaery’s eyes.

She doesn’t understand what Margaery’s husband’s eyes say. 

She quickly looks back at Theon, and nods weakly, tries to bring some smile into her face. It doesn’t matter though, she thinks, Theon is smiling bright enough for both of them. 

He slides the ring on her finger, and picks her up in a tight hug, one far too long and too tight to be considered appropariate. 

She can hear someone clapping and shouting with joy (it is her brother, Robb) and then someone else threatens to kill her now fiance if he ever hurts her (that’s her other brother, Jon.)

The rest of the feast is a blur, a mixture of Theon’s for once fully happy gazes, Robb’s loud laughter, her mother’s weak smiles and Jeoffrey’s heavy gaze that she can feel at all times.

She keeps blushing through the whole feast, and King Robert jokes that she must indeed like her husband-to-be very much. He must have not noticed that it is not Theon that makes her blush. 

No one has noticed, not even Margaery, who of course is by Sansa’s side all night, even though other ladies are jealous. They are always jealous of the liking that the princess has for Sansa Stark: and none of them realize that Sansa hates it.

She hates Margaery’s fast talking, quick wit, and forever good mood. She hates her rich dresses and bright smiles. She hates the ring that marks that Jeoffrey will forever be Margaery’s, and she will forever be his. 

It isn’t right, Sansa thinks as she dances with Theon again, and again, and again. It isn’t right, she thinks as Margaery and Joffrey leave the feast together early, probably to keep on trying to conceive an heir. 

She is not the only Stark whose heart hurts as they notice the couples departure.

Her wedding is set in just a few months, and then everything comes back to normal. Sure, she has to come by and help with preparing the dowry sometimes, and Theon asks her for walks and that kind of stuff more often. but other than that. life in the castle is still just as full of gossip, scheming and insencirity as always. Until one day, a child is found in the Royal Gardens. 

It is a girl, about 8 years old. Nobody knows where she came from, and she doesn’t answer when she is asked. She doesn’t talk at all actually. 

People gossip about her being the King’s daughter, or the Prince’s daughter, or even a child send by enemies to be a spy. But soon there are other things to worry about other than a mute child: the King falls ill, and soon is dead.

But what is known as a time of grieving fot the rest of the country, for her is time of unhumanly happiness. 

The day before his father is buried, Prince, soon to be King Jeoffrey kisses Sansa Stark. 

It is different from a gentle, sad kiss that she always imagined them having as they can never be together. No, it is rough, and fast, and he presses her against a wall in an empty hallway. As his lips leave hers, she starts to wonder if she even liked it. 

The next day she smiles at Margaery, no guilt in her heart, and then goes for a walk with Theon. She talks more than usual, and the way he looks at her is weirdly warm for him. She has a nice time, and realises she could like him, if he wasn’t to become her husband (but maybe she could like him then too?).

Before she can really think it through, and figure out what she wants, Jeoffrey kisses her again. 

It is just as the first time, maybe a bit longer and wetter. And she leaves without a word again. 

Her life seems like just a jumble of random elements, repeating all the time. Talking to Theon, preparing the wedding, laughing with Margaery, fighting with Arya, Jeoffrey kissing her, Theon leaving, mother being stressed, Theon coming back, talking to Theon, preparing the wedding, laughing with Margaery, and so on and so on and so on.

Until one day the child, the one that still says nothing, starts following her. 

She ignores it at first, then is slightly amused, and then she understands. This little one has no one, and no one cares about her. Everyone forgot, just left her to be, the cooks sometimes giving her food and the place to sleep in. 

But food and sleep is not enough. Sometimes you need company too. 

As time passes, the cycle repeats, the girl starts walking closer and closer to Sansa, until she is not following her anymore, they are just walking together. 

Theon laughs at her, compares the girl to a lost puppy, and Sansa stops talking to him. He apologizes then, and if she cared, she would notice he is sincere (and maybe she does care, a little bit). 

The wedding is just a week or two away when Theon’s family arrives at King’s Landing. And not just family; it seems like everyone from the Iron Islands came to celebrate. 

Theon and his sister share a significant smirk, and Sansa thinks Asha likes her more than she doesn’t. Their father just stares at her, like she is an object. Other Ironborn do more or less the same, and she feels awful. Then the two of them start to fight about something, and just seconds later they start fighting with fists rather then words. Theon takes her from there quickly, and it seems like he wants to apologize. But he doesn’t, just kisses her hand and murmurs that fighting like that is normal for his people, and that he will never let anything happen to her. She doesn’t know if she believes him.

They say goodnight early before the wedding, as he wants to spend more time with his family, and she promised Gisla (Theon’s idea for the little girl’s name) they would play (Sansa also plans on telling the girl that she will be adopted by them as soon as they get married: again, Theon’s idea). 

As she walks through the dark castle, she feels a hand grabbing her, and a different hand blocking her mouth. Someone drags her to a room she doesn’t recognize, and in the light of the torches, she recognizes the Prince.

He locks the door, and starts gently stroking her face. As he kisses her, it feels nice. Gentler, slower than ever before. But just as she starts enjoying it, he stops, and sighs dramatically.

\- Poor Sansa. 

He says, as he strokes her neck.

\- You will marry this barbarian, poor thing.

\- H-he is not that bad my lord.

Jeoffrey seems angry for a second, but then he just laughs overly loud.

\- Well, you weren’t in his bed yet, were you? They are said to be brutal, up there on the Isles. And he has been just with whores this far. Don’t expect too much. 

\- I don’t understand.

She truly doesn’t, but she starts thinking about all the rumours of Ironborn, and those of Theon himself. She remembers just how ruthless he can be, like when he and Loras Tyrell fought against each other in a tourney, and as they were fighting, Theon was so lost in the rage he almost killed Loras. And Jeoffrey’s soft voice, the Ironborn’s violence and those awful memories make all the warm looks and nice talks with Theon seem like just an act, like a way to make her trust him, when he would only hurt her.

\- I don’t believe that. You do Sansa, you just don’t want to think about it. I understand. But.. you deserve better then that. You deserve better then him.

He holds her waist with one hand, and raises her chin with the other.

\- You deserve a King.

\- But the King is dead.

She whispers. Joffrey laughs again.

\- Yes, that he is. But I am talking about a new King. I practically am crowned, am I not?

\- It is just a few weeks away, but..

\- Shhh, no buts sweet Sansa. You deserve to be with a King, at least for once. And I will allow you. Isn’t that generous.

\- I-I should probably go, it is getting late and Gisla-

\- She will wait.

He kisses her, hungrily, and she finds that she can’t really oppose. She just thinks about Theon, and how brutal the Ironborn are, and she lets the future King undo her dress.

He does it surprisingly quickly, and even more quickly, everything is over. He falls asleep next to her, but she just sits on the sheets, and wants to curl up, fall asleep and never wake up. 

She wanted to know what pleasure meant, before suffering on her wedding night, but if what Joffrey just did was supposed to be pleasurable, then just how awful will she feel with her husband in just a few hours?

As she walks down the aisle, she wishes he knew. As he smirks at her and jokes about the consummation, she wishes he knew. As his countrymen look at her with lusty eyes, and he laughs at their jokes, she wishes he knew. She wishes that confident smirk vanished once and for all, because that smirk means he intends to make her suffer and take pleasure from it, even worse than Joffrey did.

And then her wedding night starts.

They carry her to the chamber, tear the gown off her, and she expects him to jump at her like an animal, expects that this facade that he must have been keeping all this time will drop. But it doesn’t.

He smirks, yes, but then he kisses her gently, and removes what is left of her clothes slowly. She expects him to be brutal, finally now that she is naked, but instead he caresses every inch of her skin. And she feels she wants to cry. 

When he starts kissing her neck, it feels good, better than anything Jeoffrey ever did to her, and she feels stupid. She feels so stupid. And then she remembers that one time he was rambling, like he just needed to spit all his worries out, and he finished the whole rant by saying:"I was never the best, you know. At anything, maybe except for archery. But I would like to be the best husband possible. How does that sound?" in that serious, broken voice. And she feels awful.

He looks at her alarmed, but still not entirely serious.

\- Am I really that bad? Because you seemed perfectly content just a few seconds ago my lady.

But as she starts crying, his face drops. They sit at the edge of the bed, uncomfortable in the silence.

\- Are you scared ? Because I swear, I will try to make it as painless and pleasant as I can. And I can do quite a lot.

She doesn’t laugh, just looks at him with tears still forming in her eyes. 

The worst thing is, just hours ago she wanted him to know. And now, as she doesn’t want him to ever find out, she feels she has to tell him.

\- I am not a virgin.

He nods his head slowly.

\- I am not either. But you knew that, didn’t you?

She doesn’t respond.

\- Who?

He asks after a few seconds.

She swallows slowly.

\- The Prince.

Theon’s face changes slightly, but he remains weirdly calm.

\- DId you want it?

He asks, painfully slowly.

Sansa drops her eyes, and replies so softly she isn’t sure he can hear her.

\- I thought I did. 

A single tear falls down on the floor, and when Sansa finally looks up, the room is empty.


End file.
